Welsh Journals

of small coal caught fire and after fighting it unsuccessfully for five days, her crew abandoned her 700 miles from the nearest land in the southernmost South Sea Islands. It was only Captain Hughes's superb seamanship which brought them to tiny Rapa island. This article and the following extracts from the account of another crew member, paint vivid pictures of the dangers and endurance of the nine days' voyage to Rapa and their subsequent pleasant life there until rescued. Shipowners had to take such losses in their stride, and David Jenkins shows how a skilful one, like Cardiff- based William Reardon Smith, could pick his way through the perils of trading and, by diversifying, achieve a profit in the first two decades of this century. The shorter articles are also varied. The remarkable seafaring record of the Davies family of master mariners, 1854-1930, is outlined by the editors, based on a collection of family papers deposited in the Caernarfon Record Office and illustrated with the usual fine photographs. Inscriptions from Bangor gravestones reveal an unusual source of maritime information. Arklow and its south Wales connections are the subject of a nostalgic piece, with memories of Barry Dock's great days, and four shorter pieces commemorate particular ships. One is the record of the hard-working life of the sloop, Jenny, twenty tons, built in 1787, wrecked in 1919. By contrast, the Principality's life was just twenty years when she was lost with all hands in the south Atlantic in 1905. Her youthful captain's photograph stares out at us. Less tragic was the loss of the Ethel, whose west Walian captain and local pilot ran her aground going into Boston (Lincs.) harbour in 1894. The hero of this episode was the harbour engineer, who cleared the obstruction in only twelve days; again good illustrations. In the fourth story, Lewis Lloyd traces the Merioneth connections of the brig Atalanta in the thirty years before 1891, when she was lost, and gives students of family and local history an example of the usefulness of maritime records in their researches. This issue is excellent value for all those who enjoy maritime history and who wish the journal a continuing fair wind in its next ten years. P. K. CRIMMIN Royal Holloway and Bedford New College WELSH NATIONAL OPERA. By Richard Fawkes. Foreword by HRH The Princess of Wales. Julia MacRae Books, 1986. Pp. 368. £ 14.95. For some years London critics had spoken of Welsh National Opera as the most exciting company in the land but perhaps not even their most dedicated fans (and that word is not inappropriate) were quite prepared for the excellence they were to achieve during their fortieth anniversary in 1986. A production of Otello was as theatrically and musically stunning as any ever seen and there was sufficient confidence not only for The Ring to be stage in Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham, but also in a completely unprecedented visit at Covent Garden itself. The birthday celebrations occasioned great pride and it was wholly appropriate that a history of the Company's work should appear.